Jax Gets TED-ucated

Live blogging from TEDx Jacksonville

Denise M. Reagan

Posted
Saturday, October 26, 2013 11:18 am

THE SPECKTATOR

Kerry Speckman shares her unique perspective and observations on people, places and events on the First Coast and beyond. She's also the 2012 winner of Jacksonville Dancing With the Stars, so she's got that going for her.

So excited for TEDx Jacksonville to finally be here and want to share this amazing experience with those of you who couldn't be here or so I'll be live blogging the event ... because live Tweeting is just annoying. No offense.

10:50 a.m.Host Al Letson opens the show with a quote from Margaret Mead. Something about small groups of people changing the world. [I can't type fast enough to get it verbatim.] Then encourages participants: "Talk to people you don't know. Ask someone a question. One of the first questions I ask people is 'what's the bravest thing you've ever done?'" A memorable response, he says, was a man who saved a chihuahua from drowning in a big fish tank.[Still working on my answer.]

10:54 a.m.: Housekeeping reminders ... Letson points out the exits "in case anything bad happens ... which it won't" [he must have been a Boy Scout]. Turn off your cell phones. Video cameras or everywhere. Keep your droolng to a minimum. And if you're going to be Tweeting from the event, use the hashtag #TEDxJax.

10:58 a.m.: First spontaneous applause of the day. Letson says he's from Jacksonville and proud to be.

11:05 a.m. Al introduces 5 & Dime, a Theatre Company, who perform an excerpt from Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens. [Now would be a good time to look up what "elegy" means. ... I'll be right back.] And don't forget to use the hashtag #TEDxJax.

11:07 a.m. Just as Bruce Ganger takes the stage to discuss "Moving Toward a HungerSolution, the lights go out. The executive director of Second Harvest Food Bank is unfazed. "I can't make you see what hunger looks like. But darkness is one way to portray it. You can't focus on anything else, you feel immoblized and anxious, you can't connect with others. You can't read, study or work. Metaphorically, you can't wait until the lights come back on." Then he drops some disturbing facts: 1 out of 6 adults are actively hungry or "food insecure" meaning they don't know how or when they are getting their next meal. One in four children are hungry or food insecure. [This talk is giving me a pit in my stomach ... of guilt, not hunger.]

11:31 a.m. "If we don't own the issue, how is it ever going to get better?" Letson says and introduces former Ambassador Nancy Soderberg and her "ridiculous resume" (which includes a recent appearance on "The Daily Show".) Oh, yes, and remember to use your hashtags.

11:33 a.m. In her presentation, "The New Global Impact," Soderberg discusses the horrific situation in the Congo: hundreds of thousands of people dying from disease, hunger, war. And if you think it doesn't affect Americans, think again. "Do you feel safe? Do you feel prosperous?" she asks the audience. "I don't." From Somali pirates and Chechnyan bombers to Al Qaeda/Qaida/Kaida and cyber attackers, America is in the cross-hairs, Soderberg says. And it's time for America to step up and embrace the new compact. [On another note: how cool is it to say "When I was at the White House..."? And mean it?]

11:55 a.m. Letson is back. Hashtag count: 6. Finally have time to look up the definition of "elegy." Don't judge.

1:31 p.m. Back from lunch. Thanks for the chicken salad, Black Sheep! Letson brings the hashtag reference total to 10!

1:35 p.m. Patricia Siemen on "The Rights of Nature": "We think of ourselves as though the Earth rotates around us. Not the sun," she says. "Was Copernicus wrong?" [Astronomy jokes kill with smart people!] "The illusion of our separation is dangerous. We think the laws of nature and physics don’t apply to us, which means we continue our actions of destruction. [Side note: Siemen is a nun and a lawyer. If I meet her, should I call her Counselor Sister Siemen or Sister Counselor Siemen? Or just leave her alone?]

1:52 p.m. Did Al Letson really just ask where lost and found is? Video break...

2:14 p.m. Al Letson just admitted that he opens dictionaries too. So there.

2:16 p.m. Speaking on "Tales From the Ocean's Garbage Patch," Matt Rutherford is the first person in the history of the world to complete a non-stop navigation voyage around North America and South America (translation: Annapolis, Md. to Cape Horn in Chile ... and back ... 27,000 miles) and he's telling us why he is insane—but in a good way. According to Matt, 1 trillion plastic bags are used every year: only 11 percent are recycled—10 percent wind up in the ocean. Spontaneous applause when Matt brings up "stupid coffee stirrers" being used for 10 seconds and lasting four generations.

4:20 p.m.Bob-n-Me performs and it goes a little something like this: Church car. Kumquat. Church car. Bang. Rubber baby. Rubber baby. Church car. Box car. Bang. Church car. Automobile. [I'm clearly not smart enough to get this, but the presentation started at a highly appropriate time.]